BEIJING -- China held a high-profile meeting in Beijing on Saturday to mark the 110th anniversary of the Revolution of 1911 that ended the thousands-year-long absolute monarchy in the country.

Addressing the event at the Great Hall of the People, President Xi Jinping hailed the revolution as a "great and arduous exploration" by the Chinese people and progressives to achieve national independence and the people's liberation.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, called for promoting the great spirit of revolutionary pioneers and pooling strength for national rejuvenation.

Starting with gunfire in Wuchang, now part of Central China's Wuhan city, on Oct 10, 1911, the national democratic revolution launched by Chinese revolutionaries represented by Dr Sun Yat-sen brought down the Qing government and brought about the establishment of Asia's first republic.

The revolution "helped to greatly liberate the thinking of the Chinese people, spread the ideas of democracy and republicanism, and opened the floodgates for progress in China," Xi said. It triggered a social transformation in China and led to the search for a path to national rejuvenation, which has been the greatest dream of the Chinese people since the Opium War of 1840.

Saturday's gathering, Xi said, was meant to commemorate the historic exploits of revolutionary pioneers like Dr Sun Yat-sen, to emulate and carry forward their lofty spirit of working with unshakable resolve to revitalize China, and to inspire and rally the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation at home and abroad to work together to realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.